In this mockumentary, Kazakhstani television's premier journalist, Borat Sagdiyev, travels to the United States on a mission of fact-finding and cultural discovery.

Intending to interview a range of experts in New York City, the presenter and his producer, Azamat Bagatov, are baffled by the western way of life and quickly find themselves causing offence left, right and centre. An evening relaxing in their hotel room soon gives the trip a new lease of life as, discovering the delights of Pamela Anderson on a repeat showing of Baywatch, Borat discovers new cause and interest in travelling across the whole nation, discovering more of its people and its ways, in pursuit of his new love.

After purchasing the only vehicle they can afford, the pair hit the road and begin their journey south and west, visiting cities including Washington DC, Georgain capital Atlanta, and Dallas, Texas; encountering dining societies, frat boys, black youths and Jewish bed-and-breakfast owners, not to mention evangelical Christians and rodeo-goers, as they attempt to learn the ways of modern America.